1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless networks and, more specifically but not exclusively, to identification and use of zero-forcing, interference-alignment, and/or interference-cancellation opportunities for wireless transmissions.
2. Description of the Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may help facilitate a better understanding of the invention(s). Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Wireless interference is typically considered harmful. As result, a wireless network is usually configured to prevent transmitters from interfering with one another. For example, a wireless network might be configured to allocate the wireless medium to a specified transmitter using time division multiple access (TDMA) or to employ a contention-based collision-avoidance mechanism similar to that of IEEE 802.11. However, as unicast wireless transmissions approach the Shannon capacity, it becomes progressively more difficult to realize further throughput increases without allowing concurrent transmissions and the concomitant signal interference. While some prior-art techniques allow concurrent transmission of multiple wireless signals, each of such techniques typically targets only a corresponding, very specifically and narrowly defined type of concurrent-transmission opportunities and, as such, misses and leaves unutilized many other beneficial opportunities.